Public-domain ebook
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In: Short Stories·British Literature·Nobel Prizes in Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #9363.
This volume gathers the most distinguished British short stories published between July 1922 and June 1923, selected by Edward J. O’Brien and introduced by a seasoned editor who has surveyed hundreds of magazine pieces. The opening pages list an impressive roster of contributors, Stacy Aumonier, J.D. Beresford, Algernon Blackwood, Walter de la Mare, John Galsworthy, May Sinclair, Hugh Walpole, and many others, each story drawn from respected periodicals such as The Saturday Evening Post, The Dial, The London Mercury, and The Chicago Tribune. After the acknowledgments, the editor’s essay probes the nature of the short story, contrasting the craft of writers who polish form against those who rely on exotic adventure, and sets the stage for a collection that balances domestic realism with occasional flights of fancy.
The prose reflects the polished, conversational tone of early‑1920s literary magazines, where careful diction and subtle irony coexist with vivid description. Readers who appreciate nuanced character sketches, understated humor, and the social textures of interwar Britain will find this anthology rewarding. It also appeals to scholars interested in the period’s publishing landscape, offering a snapshot of the magazines and editors that shaped contemporary taste.
The opening · free to read
To the Editor of The Saturday Evening Post, the Editor of The Dial, the Editor of The Freeman, the Editor of The English Review, the Editor of The Century Magazine, the Editor of Harpers' Bazar, the Editor of The Ladies' Home Journal, the Editor of The Chicago Tribune Syndicate Service, Alfred A. Knopf, The Golden Cockerel Press, B.W. Huebsch, The Talbot Press, Dodd, Mead and Co., Stacy Aumonier, J.D. Beresford, Algernon Blackwood, Harold Brighouse, William Caine, A.E. Coppard, Miss R.C. Lamburn, Walter de la Mare, Miss Dorothy Easton, Miss May Edginton, John Galsworthy, Alan Graham, Holloway Horn, Rowland Kenney, Miss Rosamond Langbridge, Mrs. Mary St. Leger Harrison, Mrs. J. Middleton Murry, Mrs. Elinor Mordaunt, Max Pemberton, Roland Pertwee, Miss May Sinclair, Sidney Southgate, Mrs. Geoffrey Holdsworth, Mrs. Basil Hargrave, and Hugh Walpole; to Curtis Brown, Ltd., as agent for Stacy Aumonier, May Edginton, Elinor Mordaunt, Roland Pertwee, and May Sinclair; to J.B. Pinker as agent for J.D. Beresford, Walter de la Mare, John Galsworthy, G.B. Stern, and Hugh Walpole; to A.P. Watt and Son as agent for Algernon Blackwood and Lucas Malet; to Andrew H. Dakers as agent for A.E. Coppard; to Cotterill and Cromb as agent for Alan Graham; and to Christy and Moore, Ltd., as agent for Holloway Horn.
Acknowledgements are specially due to The Boston Evening Transcript for permission to reprint the large body of material previously published in its pages. We ask pardon of any one whose rights we may have accidentally overlooked.
We shall be grateful to our readers for corrections, and particularly for suggestions leading to the wider usefulness of this annual volume. We shall particularly welcome the receipt from authors, editors, agents, and publishers, of stories printed during the year beginning July 1, 1922, which have qualities of distinction but yet are not published in periodicals falling under our regular notice. Such communications may be addressed to Edward J. O'Brien, Forest Hill, Oxfordshire.
E.J.O.
J.C.
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